


Professor Kenobi

by trashbaby28



Category: Reylo - Fandom
Genre: College Setting, Denial of Feelings, Drunken Flirting, Eventual Smut, Gen, Modern AU, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Reluctant Rey, Romantic Fluff, Sensual Kylo, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Student Kylo, Teacher-Student Relationship, Unrequited Lust, Unresolved Sexual Tension, teacher rey
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-20
Updated: 2017-06-14
Packaged: 2018-11-02 18:08:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10949928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trashbaby28/pseuds/trashbaby28
Summary: This wasn’t Rey’s first semester teaching American Literature at ASU, but this was her first semester running into a complication with one of her students.





	1. Chapter One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This wasn’t Rey’s first semester teaching American Literature at ASU, but this was her first semester running into a complication with one of her students.

This wasn’t Rey’s first semester teaching American Literature at ASU, but this was her first semester running into a complication with one of her students. 

Rey has never found herself attracted to a student. She is in her mid-twenties, fresh out of graduate school, and the students who sign up for her class are typically freshman and sophomore’s -- no older than 21. Rey see’s them as the younger brother’s and sister’s she never had and she enjoys teaching this age group. They are old enough to have acquired a basic knowledge of manners and respect for authority figures, but still young enough to have not experienced life fully, and Rey wants to introduce them to everything the world has to offer, both good and bad. Unfortunately, Rey is limited to the world of literature but makes class very, very interesting and eye-opening. At least that’s what her reviews on Rate My Professor always say.

Kylo is not the typical student Rey is accustomed to having in class. He is older, much older. Older than her, she thinks. Kylo got a late start college. He didn’t enroll right after high school like most students do. He opted to join the Air Force instead. He served for six years and was stationed in Michigan before deciding he wanted to go college for a degree computer engineering. The Air Force would pay for his tuition completely, so picking a college to enroll in wasn’t based on who could offer him the most financial assistance, rather, he wanted to live somewhere entirely different from where he had resided for the last several years. Arizona seemed like a nice contrast.

Kylo isn’t a freshman or sophomore like his classmates though, he is a senior. So how he wound up in Rey’s class was completely puzzling to her at first until he clarified one day after class at the beginning of the semester. Kylo explained that he had one free elective that he put off until the very end of his undergraduate career that allowed him to take whatever class he wanted, whatever subject, whatever level, as long as it was classified as a critical thinking and writing intensive course in ASU’s archives. Kylo decided on Rey’s American Literature course because 1: it was a 200-level course and he wanted an easy class his last semester of college, and 2: he loves to read. Although Rey was at first offended that he signed up for her class because he thought it would be easy, she was also excited to have a student that actually liked to read. Most of her students, even though they were liberal arts majors, only took her lit class because it was required -- not because they wanted to, and especially not because they enjoyed reading.

The age difference and difference in interests definitely showed among Kylo and his classmates. Kylo tended to be very quiet and didn’t really converse with his classmates unless he had to, but he was never haughty. He was always friendly when his classmates did engage with him and shook his head with a bashful smile at the group of theater major girls who flirted with him before class. 

Rey finds his smile endearing. He doesn’t have perfect, straight, white teeth -- a couple of them are crooked on the upper right side of his mouth and stained just the slightest from coffee, but there is something about those things that are appealing to Rey. In fact, everything about Kylo’s appearance isn’t what one would consider attractive in the traditional sense, but it works for him; that’s what makes him attractive. He is ridiculously tall, but not lanky. There is muscle definition in his upper arms, chest, and shoulders from what Rey can tell when he wears just a t-shirt to class. He is pale with moles scattered across his rather angular face. His ears are kind of large but are often hidden underneath this beautiful, voluminous black mane he has for hair that hangs just above his shoulders and curls at the ends. His lips, full and flushed, often sit in a pout, but curl into a smirk anytime Rey starts into one of her rants about undertones and hidden racist or sexist meanings within whatever text they are currently reading in class. Almost as if he finds her snarky demeanor amusing. 

And then there are his eyes. There is something about his eyes that leaves Rey unnerved. They are golden brown when the light hits them, bright and stunning really, but dark and penetrating whenever he is focused on something. Often times, that focus is on Rey. Rey catches Kylo staring at her on several occasions during class time. While students staring at Rey isn’t something she finds intimidating, it actually gives her hope that her students are paying attention in class and not zoning out, when Kylo stares at her, she tenses up. The muscles in her abdomen constrict and her mouth dries. Sometimes the hairs on the back of her neck prickle if she holds his gaze for too long. His eyes are never cruel like he’s secretly questioning her teaching methods or anything, they’re just… intense. And while Rey tries to make eye contact with all her students during class discussion, she always finds herself gravitating back to Kylo’s eyes, and wondering what the intentions are behind his glare. 

Rey would never admit it out loud, but she definitely has the hots for Kylo. And it’s not even just because of his appearance or what his stare does to her, it’s his personality. He’s mature, but boyish in a lot of ways. Rey can tell that he is shy and soft-spoken by nature, but when he does speak, it is always with eloquence and precision. He is really rather brilliant, and combine his brilliant words with his deep, baritone voice, it’s enough to send any academic woman over the edge.

She always keeps her cool though, or at least she hopes she does whenever she’s around Kylo. Rey treats him with the same sternness that she does all of her other students, but maybe gets a little too excited when he stays after class to ask her further questions and share thoughts about a reading previously assigned in class. Kylo has never really read American Literature, he’ll admit. He’s more into epics like The Iliad and The Odyssey, but with the type of stories Rey has picked for her students to read in her lit class, Kylo has found a new favorite genre.

***

In Rey’s class, they are currently reading works by Baldwin. And while Rey will admit to her class that she is having them read Baldwin mainly because he is one of her favorite author’s, she thinks reading his stories will be beneficial in helping them complete their midterm paper that is due in two weeks. His stories will act as a guide to what excellent, descriptive writing looks like, not just writing with a lot of detail.

“Okay class, for homework, I want you all to practice using descriptive language like Baldwin does in Sonny’s Blues. What you all will do is think of a single noun that you could describe. This noun could be a thing, place, person, emotion, whatever you prefer. I want you, to the best of your ability, describe this noun, not just give me a lot of details about it. Show me what it is. I need to be able to visualize it through your writing. This description will need to be a paragraph in length…” 

Rey trails off as she finishes erasing the white board, As she turns to face the class, she catches Kylo’s gaze. He quickly looks away, as if embarrassed that Rey caught him staring at her this time. She swears she sees a slight blush creep up his neck to his cheeks. 

“And this assignment will be due at the beginning of class on Monday. Any questions?”

Crickets. No one ever asks questions. This leads Rey to believe that she is either very thorough in explaining homework assignments, or that her assignments are so easy, no further elaboration is needed.

“If there aren’t any questions, you all are free to leave. Enjoy your weekend!” She says with a genuine smile. Rey really does enjoy class time with her students. They are so much more responsive and open now than they were at the beginning of the semester. She begins to pack up her things as the students spill out of the classroom, when she hears a low, yet soft voice say, “Professor Kenobi?”

She knows exactly who it is.

“Yes, Kylo?” 

“I just wanted to let you know that I am not going to be able to attend class Monday because I have a dentist appointment. I scheduled this appointment last semester but completely forgot about until yesterday. I tried to reschedule so I wouldn’t miss class, but my dentist said it is too short of notice. I hope you don’t mind.”

Rey wishes the rest of her students were as concerned about missing class as Kylo was. Most students don’t even care to let her know why they missed, they just show up to the next class meeting like nothing happened.

“I’ll be sure to get a note from my dentist confirming the appointment if you need one,” Kylo said, his adorable smirk forming at the corner of his mouth. 

Rey chuckles, “Oh no, that won’t be necessary, Kylo. You haven’t missed a single day of class this semester, so I believe you when you say you weren’t able to reschedule.”

He chuckles now as his smirk turns into a full-blown smile, and god, does she love the sight of his smile. So boyish. It makes her forget that he is older than her.

“I just wanted to make sure. Also, since our homework is due on Monday, would it be okay if I just emailed my description to you over the weekend? I know you really don’t like when students turn in homework late.” 

“Oh, ha ha, absolutely. Although I wouldn’t take off points for your homework being late this time since you would have a legitimate excuse, you know.” Rey swings her messenger bag over her shoulder and looks up at Kylo, a smug yet playful grin spreading across her lips as she thinks back to the last assignment he turned in a week late and took a small hit to his grade because of it.

That blush that Rey thought she saw earlier returns and Kylo lets out another laugh that sounds a little more nervous than the first one. He runs his fingers through his perfectly tousled hair. Rey really is quite jealous of how glorious his hair is. She watches this gesture and wonders what his hair would feel like if she ran her fingers through it. She wonders if that faint blush to his cheeks would return if she did so…

“Ha ha, well, I’ve learned it’s better safe than sorry after my last assignment.” Kylo interrupts her train of thought. And she’s glad he did. Her mind was going somewhere she knows it can’t go and knowing that makes her want to go there that much more.

“If only your classmates were as cautious as you. Yes, you can email it to me. If you don’t get a response from me confirming I received it though, don’t panic. I’m just not checking my email as frequently as I normally would this weekend. I’m going to be a little tied up.” 

“Ohhhh, big plans this weekend, professor?” Kylo says in a hushed yet unexpectedly seductive tone – that smirk returning to his lips with a little more wickedness behind it than usual. 

Had he meant to sound so flirty? Was he trying to flirt? Rey’s face begins to heat up. The emphasis he put on the word professor should not be affecting her the way that it was right now. She imagines other contexts in which she would want him to call her professor in that tone, preferably in the context of her pinned underneath him…

YOU HAVE TO STOP! HE IS YOUR STUDENT! She thinks to herself. 

Struggling to compose herself, “Oh, well, it’s actually my birthday tomorrow, so my friends want to celebrate by taking me out tomorrow night. They want to get me super drunk so I can embarrass myself singing karaoke like I did last year…I don’t know why I’m rambling to you about all this. I apologize, that’s not very professional of me, ha ha.” Rey feels like a babbling idiot at this point, but Kylo doesn’t seem to mind. He seems intrigued, actually. Much like their usual conversations after class about literature and book recommendations. 

“Ha ha, don’t apologize, professor. It’s nice when your teachers aren’t professional all the time...not that I think you are being unprofessional right now…I think I’m just rambling now.” Rey and Kylo laugh together at this, making eye contact once again. “What I’m trying to say, I guess, is it nice to hear that you have a normal life outside of the university. I hope you have a lot of fun tomorrow. You deserve it.” 

Rey smiles so big it hurts her cheeks. She probably looks like an awestruck teenage girl staring at her celebrity crush, but he’s smiling back at her with such sincerity, she can’t help it.

“Thank you, Kylo. I’ll do my best.” 

He picks up his notebook and pen off the podium they had been standing in front of and turns to head for the door. Rey thinks about how much she wishes Kylo wasn't her student as she watches him walk away. Kylo turns around to face Rey once he reaches the door and says, in that same seductive tone from earlier, “See you next week.”


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey goes out for her birthday and runs into an unexpected surprise.

“Are you ready for tomorrow, Peanut? I’m going to get so trashed that I throw up all over whatever wretched dress Phas decides to wear and laugh about it.”

“Phas isn’t that bad, she’s just a reserved person. And you better not be getting that trashed. You’re supposed to be the DD Finn, remember?” Rey turns around from her desk to find her best friend pacing back and forth in her office, suddenly stopping with a defensive look on his face.

“Oh no. Poe is being the DD now. I had to DD for Jessika’s birthday last semester and I had no fun. Plus, I have had a rough time dealing with that asshole student who plagiarized his literary analysis, and I need to be shit-hammered after filing all the paperwork on that.”

“How did you convince Poe to be the DD? He drinks the most out of all of us anytime we go out.”

Finn, with a self-satisfied smirk, “I told him I’d make it up to him once he got me home tomorrow night.”

“You’re such a slut.” Rey rolls her eyes and laughs as Finn playfully hits her arm. 

Rey is really happy Finn has Poe in his life. He’s needed the kind of love and commitment Poe gives him for so long now. They have been together for almost two years and they recently bought a home together with a yard big enough for Poe’s lovable German shepherd BB to run around in. Rey teases Finn endlessly about being a domesticated housewife now, and while Finn acts like that annoys him, deep down Rey knows he secretly loves it.

“So are you. You always take a random home with you every time we go out for your birthday. Which is actually odd. Is that intentional or a weird coincidence?”

“Weird coincidence. I think it’s my subconscious telling me that I am another year closer to death, so I may as well enjoy myself and hook up with random’s like I use to when I was young.”

Finn rolls his eyes now. “That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. You’re 25. That’s not even old. Women are not considered old until they turn 40, and even then, you all go through that midlife crisis phase where you shack up with a hot twenty something and you’re automatically deemed young again by association. You’re pretty lucky, honestly. Do you know what age gay men are considered old?”

“No Finn, what age?”

“30! Fucking 30! When I turn 30, we won’t be going out and celebrating and getting shit-faced, we will be having a funeral for me. Turning 30 means you’re dead in gay years, so I don’t even want to hear it.”

Rey busts out laughing at Finn’s rant, “Now that is ridiculous. Is it weird that I don’t feel like hooking up with some random dude tomorrow night though? Like, it doesn’t have the same appeal this year as it usually does. Maybe that’s a sign that I am getting old.”

“Getting old, or maybe that you want to hook up with a specific person this year, not a random one.”

“Specific like who, Finn? I haven’t met anyone specific since I started working here.”

“Specific like that one student who is always in your office anytime I stop by. What’s his name, Kyle?”

Rey glares at Finn now, “Don’t even go there. I am not interested in Kylo.”

“Bullshit Rey! You’re totally into him. Hell, I’m into him. He’s hot as fuck. In an awkward kind of way. And you two totally flirt with each other anytime I see him in your office.”

“We do not flirt! And I am not into him! Jesus Finn.”

“Why are you getting so defensive then? You’re allowed to be attracted to your students, Rey. You’re even allowed to pursue a relationship with them if you want to. There’s nothing in department manual about teacher-student relationships. I’ve looked it up.”

“Of course you have,” Rey mutters under her breath as she turns back to her desk trying to busy herself with the reports on her desk. How dare Finn say she has a thing for Kylo. That’s absurd. And even if she did, she's not that obvious about it, is she?

“Fine Rey. You’re not into Kylo, but he’s definitely into you.”

“What makes you say that? And will you keep your voice down? What if he’s standing outside my office right now listening to this conversation?”

“Chill, he isn’t. And I say that because I see the way he looks at you. It’s intense. He looks at you like he wants to devour your soul or some other weird animalistic shit like that. Have you really not noticed that?”

Of course, she's noticed it. What else would always have so worked up after class?

“His stare is extreme at times, but I think that’s just him. He is a focused and driven person. He likes to learn and be challenged. I don’t think there’s some weird animalistic motive behind his stare that makes him want to pounce on me.”

“I bet he’s super aggressive in bed. But also gentle. He looks like the type of guy that would choke you and fuck you senseless, but kiss you tenderly after he came in you.”

“Okay, Finn, that’s enough.” Rey’s face and groin area are heating up at the thought of her friend's unfiltered fantasy of her student’s sexual tendencies. Rey knows she shouldn’t entertain that idea, but god being choked by him does sound amazing. She’s not even into that sort of thing, but she could be for him.

“I’m just saying, Rey. I think there’s chemistry there. Whether you want to see it or not. And it’s okay to be attracted to him. That doesn’t make you a bad teacher.”

Even if there is no rule in the lit department manual about teacher-student relationships, Rey does not want to be the kind of teacher known for having affairs with students. She doesn’t want that reputation. She has worked really hard to be respected by her colleagues and students, she doesn’t want to throw that away on some attractive, intelligent student that she enjoys talking to. And looking at.

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore. Are you and Poe still picking me up at 9:00 tomorrow night?”

“Yeah, Peanut. We’ll be there at 9:00. Maybe a little after. We’re picking Jessika up first since she’s on the way to your apartment.”

“That’s totally fine. I’ll be ready. My office hours are over now though, so let’s pack up and get out of here.”

“Sounds good to me!”

***

It’s around 9:10 pm Saturday when Rey hears laughter in the hallway of her apartment building, accompanied by a knock on her door. Rey has had a pleasant birthday so far. She received several loving texts from friends, Facebook messages from colleagues, and even a phone call earlier that afternoon from Finn where he and Poe sang the happy birthday song obnoxiously loud into the phone with BB howling in the background. As much as she tries to be nonchalant about her birthday, it really does warm Rey’s heart to know so many people care about her and let her know they do every year. Rey doesn’t have parents, or any other living relatives that she knows of to celebrate her birthday with, so having such kind friends means the world to her. Hell, they are her family.

Rey opens the door and there stands Finn, Poe, and Jessika – all look gorgeous and handsome as usual. Rey can’t help but enjoy the literal jaw drops of her friends as they see what she’s wearing out tonight though. She’s wearing a dress that is a cross between coral and burnt orange. It really pops against her tanned skin. The fabric of the dress is this silky-sheen material that makes Rey look like she makes a lot more money than she does with her adjunct salary. The dress is form fitting and shows off her athletic but still curvy physique; stopping just below her mid-thigh. There is a plummeting v cut in the back of the dress that exposes her back entirely, stopping right at the dimples on her lower back and hugging her buttocks. Rey has her hair down and loosely curled with the left side pinned back with a clip. Her shoes are strappy with a slight heel. Rey can’t walk in heels even when sober, so she’s definitely not going to try to wear stilettos when the goal for tonight is to get unapologetically wasted. She doesn’t usually wear makeup, but tonight she decided to put on a little mascara with a tinted lip balm.

“Jesus Christ you look fucking hot!” Jessika exclaims as she steps in to give Rey a hug. Poe and Finn join in and they all laugh at the absurdity of their close-knit friendship.  
They waste no more time talking in Rey’s apartment. Several of Rey and Finn’s lit colleagues, including Finn’s favorite, Phasma, are already at Twiggies, and they don’t want to keep them waiting any longer since Twiggies is a twenty-minute drive across town from Rey’s apartment. Twiggies is the go-to bar for professors and other business professionals alike because you have to be at least 21 to get in, and it’s too far away from campus for any college students to want to go. Basically, professors are never in any danger of running into their students while they are shit-faced. 

Once they arrive, they spend the first hour conversing and laughing with everyone who came out to celebrate Rey’s birthday and taking turns buying rounds of shots for everyone. By 11:00, the birthday crowd starts to dwindle down a bit, because let’s face it, anyone older than 23 goes to bed early. Rey is still so grateful for everyone who stayed as long as they did, and she makes sure that they know so. By 11:30, the only people who remain are Rey, Finn, Poe, Jessika, Chewie, and Phasma, who Finn is surprisingly getting along with very well now that he has a few drinks in his system. 

Rey has made sure to pace herself the entire night. She’s had two shots, one beer, and water consistently throughout. Rey leaves her group of friends on the patio to go pee and get another drink at the bar. Once at the bar, she asks the bartender for a Whiskey Sour and to just put it on her tab. While she stands there and waits, she hears a buzz from her phone. It’s a text from Finn.

“Phas is actually pretty kool! Omg!” 

Rey laughed at texted back, “Did you really just spell cool with a K?”

Suddenly, she hears a deep, familiar voice to her left say “Professor?” in a shocked tone. Rey freezes. No. This can’t be happening. No no no this can’t be happening.  
Rey turns to face to the direction in which the voice was coming from and sure enough, the voice is Kylo’s. He is sitting at the bar with what looks like a friend of his, drinking Guinness from a bottle. He smiles at her and unashamedly looks her up and down. Rey suddenly feels self-conscious. 

“Kylo? What are you doing here?”

“A friend of mine from the Air Force flew in for a visit this weekend. I thought I’d take him out and show him the city tonight.” The friend nods and introduces himself. His name is Hux. Rey smiles and introduces her well, then turns her attention back to Kylo as he starts to speak again. 

“I didn’t know you came to Twiggies.”

“Oh, yeah, um…this is where most of the professors at ASU come on the weekends. College students don’t hang out here…except for you apparently.” Rey laughs nervously, afraid that her buzz is way too apparent for Kylo to take her seriously, but that doesn’t seem to affect him.

“Ha ha, what a coincidence. I also come here because I know college students won’t make the drive across town for this place.” His smile is captivating and Rey is cursing herself in this moment for admiring it so visibly. 

“Ha ha, that’s right. I forget sometimes that you are not the same age as most of your peers. How old are you anyway?”

Kylo laughs at this, “Put me on the spot, professor. I’m 29, and you?”

Rey’s eyes widen, shocked by his straightforwardness. “Haven’t you heard it’s rude to ask women their age, Kylo?”

“Well, you did just ask mine. I think it’s only fair.”

He had her there. Hesitant, “25.”

Kylo merely nods his head, and this leaves Rey feeling uncertain. “Do you take me less seriously as your teacher now that you know my age?”

Kylo smiles affectionately like she’s a child that just scraped her knee and he needs to reassure her that the pain will stop soon. “No, I don’t take you less seriously. If anything, it makes me admire you more.”

Admire? What? He admires her? “Ha ha, why would you admire me?...both previously and currently?”

Kylo laughs once again. Either he is drunk and feeling good or Rey is so drunk that she is acting absurd and Kylo is entertained by it. She hasn’t decided which of the two it is yet.

“Because your mind and your views on things are fascinating. That’s why I admired you previously. I admire you currently because, for someone your age, you’re awfully intelligent and well-rounded. It’s commendable.”

Rey blushes furiously at this. Which leads her to her next outrageous question, “Are you drunk, Kylo?”

She either offended him or is contemplating his answer. He looks at her for a moment, with that smile that hasn’t once left his face since they started talking, and says, “No professor, I am not. This is only my second beer. Are you?”

Rey rolls her eyes, in a playful way though, of course, “No, I am not drunk, just enjoying myself – enjoying my birthday.”

“As you should.” He tilts his beer up to his lips and takes a drink. “I thought you were going to be with your friends though? You’re not here alone are you?”

“Oh no, they’re here! They’re out back on the patio. I just came to get another...” Rey remembers she was waiting on a drink then and turns to see it sitting in front of her for who knows how long. She picks it up and takes a sip as she turns back to face Kylo. “I should probably get back to them actually so they don’t think I’m lost or something.”

“Or you could hang out here for a while if you’d like. Hux and I definitely wouldn’t mind.”

Rey snorts, “Thank you, but wouldn’t it kind of cramp your style to have your professor hanging out at the bar with you? You all probably couldn’t pick up any girls with me here.”

Kylo laughs, “Trust me, you wouldn’t be cramping our style. And we’ve been here awhile, no girls appear to be interested.”

“I sincerely doubt that. They’re probably too intimidated to approach you two.”

“Intimidated? We’re not intimidating, are we?” Kylo asks with a devastated, but clearly sarcastic look on his face and nudges Hux’s arm. Hux laughs.

“I would be intimidated if I didn’t already know you.” Rey laughs.

Kylo looks back at Rey -- she’s peaked his interest. “And why is that, professor?”

“Because. Two attractive guys sitting at a bar can be intimidating, ha ha. What if neither of you were interested? Then I’d have hurt feelings for being rejected!” She exclaims in a rather shrill tone, clearly getting too enthusiastic about this conversation. Something that often happens when she’s talking to Kylo.

Kylo’s face is beaming as he shakes his head. He looks back at Hux who is actually talking to another girl now. She must have moseyed over to the bar while Rey and Kylo were bantering back and forth. Kylo turns back to Rey but doesn’t make eye contact, he just gazes at his almost empty beer bottle.

“Trust me, professor” Kylo begins as he leans in closer to Rey like he’s getting ready to tell her a secret, “if you were to approach me in a bar, you would definitely not be rejected.”

Kylo looks up at Rey now, waiting for her response. There’s a glint in his eyes that is both nervous and something else. Something Rey would describe as being similar to lust.  
Rey’s stomach clenches at this. He has to be drunk. There’s no way in hell he would be this straightforward with her without a little liquid courage.

“You are so drunk, Kylo Ren.” 

He snorts, “I assure you, Professor Kenobi, I am not. Just being honest.”

Maybe Rey is the one undergoing some liquid courage because the next question she asks is too bold, even for her. “Just being honest, or just flirting with your teacher?” She raises her eyebrow as she takes another sip of her drink, waiting for his response this time.

That wicked grin creeps to the corner of his mouth and his eyes go black, taunting Rey in a way that makes her instantly regret what she just asked. Her groin now on fire. Kylo leans even closer so that he has to look up at her now and says, “Would it bother you if I was flirting?”

Rey needs to get the fuck out of there before she says something really inappropriate, but she can’t stop. She doesn’t want to leave. Pulling herself together a little bit though, she backs away slightly, “You know, you don’t have to flirt with your professor to get a good grade, you’re doing rather well in my class at the moment.” Rey says this in a joking tone but is curious to hear his response to her assumption.

“Ha ha, believe me, professor, boosting my grade would not be a reason to flirt with you.” Kylo says as he breaks eye contact to finish off his beer. 

Already missing his eyes on her, Rey asks, in an embarrassingly breathy voice, “What would be a reason then?” 

She sees Kylo’s eyes widen from his side profile and he nearly chokes on his drink. Fuck, did she take this too far? 

Kylo turns and his eye’s meet hers again, now with what is undeniable desire playing across them. “An obvious reason to flirt with you would be because you are insanely attractive. I mean, look at you.” He motions to her face and body and Rey can feel her skin start to flush. “Another reason, a less superficial reason to flirt with you would be your personality because Jesus Christ, it is just as enticing, if not more so, as the way you look in that dress.”

And that’s Rey’s cue to walk away. If she doesn’t, she will devour his lips with her own right here in front of everyone at this bar. 

Kylo must sense her unease because he immediately starts to apologize. “I’m so sorry…not that it’s any excuse for what I just said, but maybe I am feeling that second beer a little more than I realized.” His eyes look so worried and Rey wants to cradle his face and tell him he doesn’t have to apologize for her wanting to fuck him.

“No no no. Don’t apologize. I’m the one who asked in the first place. That was so inappropriate of me. I think I’m the one feeling my drink a little too much.” Rey looks around absolutely humiliated. She can still feel Kylo’s eyes on her. “I really do need to get back to my friends though. They’re here because of me, so I should, you know, be with them…it was nice seeing you.”

Rey starts to walk away and she hears Kylo say, devastated, “You too, Professor.”

Once Rey has made it back to the patio, her friends are too far gone to even notice her return. Except for Finn. Finn looks at her and mutters “Where have you been? I was starting to worry.”

Rey, still flustered by the conversation she just had with her student, “Long fucking story. I’m getting kind of tired. Would it be rude to go ahead and start wrapping things up?”

Finn, concerned about what ‘long fucking story’ implies, “No, I don’t think so. Phas and Chewie were talking about leaving soon before you got out here and I know Poe is tired of listening to Jessika bitch about her ex. You should be good.”

“Fantastic. I’ll just need to close my tab.” In saying that, Rey realizes that closing her tab means she will have to go back to the bar and face Kylo. She’s tempted to ask Finn to do it for her, but she knows if she does that then it will be obvious that their conversation got the best of her, and she’s too proud to let him know that. Rey finishes off her drink and tells Finn she’ll be right back. 

“Okay, Peanut. We’ll wait for you out front.” 

As Rey makes her way back to the bar, she sees that Kylo is still sitting at the bar, but he is facing Hux and that girl he was talking to before Rey left. Perfect. Maybe she can get in and out of there without him even noticing. As Rey approaches the bar, the bartender meets her and asks if she would like another.

“No thank you. I would just like to pay my tab.”

“Sure thing. What’s the name?”

“Rey Kenobi. Thanks.”

The bartender steps away briefly to go cash her out. While she’s waiting, she sees that Kylo has noticed her now, and is staring at her with a soft smile. Fuck. So much for getting in and out.

She smiles back, and luckily there’s no time to start another awkward conversation because the bartender is bringing back her debit card. Rey goes to sign the receipt, but notices there isn’t one.

“Excuse me, there’s no receipt to tell me how much I owe you.” 

“Your tab has already been taken care of.”

“What? That’s impossible. There must be some sort of mistake.”

“No, no mistake ma’am. This gentleman right here paid your tab.” The bartender waved his hand towards Kylo.

Rey’s eyes darted to Kylo. “No – no. Kylo. You cannot pay my tab, I refuse.”

Kylo just smirks at her.“Consider it my apology for earlier.”

Before she has a chance to protest again, Kylo is standing up and following Hux away from the bar. He stops beside her and leans over. Rey doesn’t think too much of it until she feels feather light fingertips ghost over her lower back, trailing up the length of her spine. Kylo’s lips, parted, brush over her earlobe and Rey can’t decide if he meant this gesture to be a tantalizing nip, or simply a misjudge of proximity. Her skin becoming hypersensitive all over as Kylo whispers, hot and breathy, “Happy birthday, professor.”

And just as quick as he said it, he was gone -- leaving Rey feeling utterly bewildered and incredibly aroused.


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey hopes that Kylo was too drunk to remember their encounter from last night but finds out that is not the case.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little bit shorter than the previous two, but I plan to make chapter four longer to make up for it. 
> 
> Thank you all so much for the feedback! This is my first time ever writing a fic, so all of the positive comments and suggestions are really encouraging. :)
> 
> Hope you all enjoy! :)

Rey wakes up the next morning with a migraine not from a hangover, but from her anxiety worrying herself to sleep over the events that took place last night. Rey wants to hide in her apartment for the rest of her life and never face Kylo again. Unfortunately, she only has today to recuperate then it’s back to teaching tomorrow.

Wait. He has that dentist appointment tomorrow. He won’t be in class tomorrow.

This realization makes Rey feel a little better. Since Kylo won't be back in class until Wednesday, Rey has a couple of days regain her composer and figure how the fuck she is going to deal with this situation. Should she apologize for her behavior and blame it on one too many drinks? Should she beg him to act like nothing happened and tell no one? Maybe she should play dumb and act like she doesn’t remember last night at all. Conflicted while she’s rummaging through her kitchen cabinets for something to eat, she hears her cell phone ringing from her living room. Who is fucking calling her this early?

“Hey, how you feeling?”

“Finn, why are you calling this early? Why are you up this early?

“Girl...it’s noon. You’re not hungover, are you?

“No, not hungover. Just tired and stressed. Look, I appreciate you calling to check on me but I really don—"

“No. Don’t you dare try to get off the phone with me just yet. You have something you need to tell me.”

“Tell you what, Finn?”

“What happened last night? Where did you disappear to? All you told me was it was a ‘long fucking story’ and that’s it. So, tell me. What’s this long fucking story?”

There’s a long sigh from Rey on her end of the phone. “It’s too long of a story to tell you over the phone, really.”

“Fine, I’ll come over then. Be there in 15.”

“Finn, wai—"

The phone call ends. Rey loves Finn, but god she wishes he wasn’t so damn persistent sometimes. Rey goes back to her kitchen to finish pouring herself a bowl of cereal and eats while she waits for Finn to arrive.

***

Once Finn gets to Rey’s apartment, it takes her 30 minutes to tell him the story. It took so long mainly because Rey stopped frequently to make side comments like ‘I’m just so stupid,’ and ‘I don’t know what I was thinking.’ 

Finn sits on Rey’s couch while Rey sits in the sofa chair across the room from him. The animated look on Finn’s face does not make Rey feel better about her behavior last night.

“I can’t fucking believe it.”

“Finn, I know. You don’t have to make me feel worse. I don’t know what came over me. Why would I provoke him like that? He probably thinks I’m a whore or a tease.”

“No, Rey. I can’t believe you didn’t bring him back to your apartment and fuck the shit out of him! R.E.Y. What did I tell you about him having the hots for you? And I can’t believe I missed this whole entire thing because I was talking to fucking Phasma!”

Rey rolls her eyes so hard she feels them in the back of her head. She sinks back into sofa chair, hoping to disappear. “You really don’t get it, do you?”

“What’s there to get? You had what sounds like an amazing birthday with an unexpected surprise from the guy you’ve been secretly crushing on, and you totally passed up the opportunity to keep enjoying your birthday with him!”

“Goddamnit Finn, just stop! I’m not going to sleep with my student! I don’t care if there isn’t a rule against it in the department manual! I don’t care if he’s clearly into me! I don’t want to be the teacher that sleeps with her students and I am humiliated by the way I acted around him last night! I don’t need you telling me I passed up an opportunity, I need you to tell me it’s going to be okay and I can face him in class with what little bit of dignity I have left at this point!”

Rey is sobbing now. She doesn’t like yelling at Finn, but she’s really upset about this whole situation and he is not helping to make her feel better.

“Peanut, I’m sorry. Come here.” Finn pats the cushion next to him on the side of the couch and Rey helplessly lingers over, letting Finn put his arm around her and hug her into his chest as he rubs her head. “You have nothing to be embarrassed about. You didn’t lose your dignity over this despite how you feel right now. He’s the one who started it anyway. What else were you going to do?”

“Walk away. Tell him to chill out and that I’m his professor. How am I even going to address this to him? Do I say sorry? Pretend I don’t remember any of it? Or should I just go ahead and turn in a resignation letter to the university and go back to waitressing?”

“Shut up. You’re so dramatic when you’re embarrassed. Everything is going to be okay. For all you know, he may not remember what happened last night. That would be a good thing, right?”

Rey nods her head as she sniffs. She is too mentally and emotionally drained to verbally respond at this point.

“You can pretend that you don’t remember anything and wait to see if he addresses the situation, or you can take control of the situation like the badass woman you are and tell him it means nothing and to stop having wet dreams about you.”

Rey laughs for the first time since last night. She sincerely doubts Kylo has ever had a wet dream about her. Wet dreams are just a teenage thing anyway, aren’t they? Rey looks up at Finn, “Thank you for saying I’m a badass. I really don’t know what I’m going to do though – how I’m going to handle this.”

“It was just a little innocent flirting, nothing actually happened. It’s not like you’re pregnant or something. And you didn’t even touch him, he’s the one that did the touching and I don’t know if it could even be considered in a super sexual way.”

“Finn, he touched my lower back, my bare lower back, and he put his lips on my ear. How is that not sexual even just a little bit?”

“You liked it, didn’t you?”

She shakes her head but smiles. “Will you stay for a while? I really don’t want to be by myself today.”

“Of course.”

***

Rey and Finn decide to re-watch all six seasons of Girls on HBO, order takeout, and build a pillow fort in Rey’s living room floor. It was almost 10:00 p.m. and they were halfway through season four when Rey hears a chime from her phone. It was her work email. Rey checks it and the email is from Kylo. 

“Hi Professor Kenobi,

I’m sorry to be emailing you so late, but here is my description of a noun.

See you Wednesday.

Kylo”

Attached in the email is a word document. Rey decides to download it to her phone and read it while Finn is crying over Adam leaving Hannah for Mimi-Rose.

Title: Her  
She receives compliments on her ‘brown eyes’ all the time, but they’re really hazel.  
The green of her iris like an Irish hillside: vast and vibrant.  
The one time you are content with being lost in something.  
Freckles across her nose like constellations in the night sky.  
My fingers burn from bronzed skin I wasn’t meant to touch.  
Orange silk and the arc connecting her neck to her shoulder are engraved in my mind. 

“Oh my god.” Rey doesn’t realize she’s speaking aloud until Finn stops sobbing long enough to ask what’s wrong.

Rey turns to Finn, her face visibly flushed, “He definitely remembers what happened last night.”

“Wait, what?”

Rey hands her phone to Finn for him to read, her stomach in knots. She watches his eyes widen and he looks up at her once he has finished reading the document.

“Girl, what kind of homework assignment was this?”


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylo confronts Rey about his grade and her feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so overwhelmed by all of these awesome comments! Thank you so much! :)
> 
> Hope you all enjoy this chapter! :)

Rey’s class on Monday goes smoothly but is uneventful. She has to force her students to read their noun descriptions aloud and they will only provide feedback for their peers if Rey calls on them directly and asks what their thoughts are on a particular piece. As much as she hates to admit it, she misses having Kylo in class today. He kind of helps lead the class into really interesting and stimulating conversations, and without him there, she is just bored. 

Rey informs her students at the end of class that they will need to bring copies of their drafts for their midterm papers on Wednesday for an in-class peer review and for homework, she just wants them to finish up their drafts and make sure they are cohesive and presentable. Rey also announces that she will not be having office hours today. She lies to her students and tells them she has a doctor’s appointment, but really, she just doesn’t want to wait around in her office with nothing to do. None of her students ever stop by her office during office hours unless they are coming for their mandatory one-on-one conferences with her before a major assignment is due. Kylo is the only one who stops by. 

It makes her feel pathetic that she is this unmotivated to be on campus all because one student didn’t show up for class today. Maybe Finn is right, maybe she is into Kylo. A little more than she feels comfortable admitting, even to herself.

Tuesdays are like free days for Rey because she doesn’t have classes to teach on Tuesdays this semester. Because of this, she decided to start taking kickboxing lessons for fun and for protection. She’s especially thankful for kickboxing this Tuesday because it has helped her relieve a lot of pent of tension and weird emotions she has been experiencing the last couple of days.

***

It’s finally Wednesday and Rey is a nervous wreck. She made Finn come to campus early today just to give her a pep talk before class.

“I really do think you are overreacting. You don’t even know if that love poem was about you.”

Rey’s eyes go wide and she throws up her hands, whispering in an offended tone, “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“It’s 10:55, you better get going. Your class starts soon. Are you still going to buy me coffee after your office hours for coming in this early?”

Packing up her things and letting out an exasperated sigh, “Sure Finn, meet me at 1:00 in my office.” 

“Go get’em, Peanut.”

Rey walks into her classroom right at 10:59 and silently praises herself for not being late. She harps on her students enough for showing up to class late, she doesn’t want to appear to be a hypocrite by doing the same. She sees Kylo, sitting in his usual spot towards the front of the room, texting someone on his phone. Rey wonders if it is a girl he’s texting and a spike of jealousy suddenly courses through her body. She pushes that unwanted feeling aside and says good morning to the class. 

As she makes her way to the front of the classroom, to the podium she lectures from, Rey can feel Kylo’s eyes on her. She’s not ready to look at him yet, so she avoids his gaze and starts to pull out everyone’s graded homework assignment from Monday. Rey printed out Kylo’s word document he emailed her Sunday night so he could have a physical copy of her comments and his recorded letter grade. She begins to walk around the classroom, handing the students their papers back. She gets to Kylo’s paper and makes her way across the classroom to give it to him, her anxiety building up with every step. She avoids eye contact with him again as she places his paper on his desk, a little more bleakly than she intended, and walks away quickly before he has a chance to stop her and ask why he received an F on this assignment. 

Once Rey has finished passing out everyone’s graded homework assignment, she makes her way back up to the front of the classroom, speaking as she goes, “Okay class, I just passed back the description of a noun assignment from Monday, that a received, with comments and a letter grade. Overall, I was very pleased with everyone’s attempt to use descriptive language and I really was able to visualize what you all were writing about. If you did not receive a paper back from me or have any questions about my comments or your grade, come see me during my office hours today.” 

Rey looks at Kylo this time, hoping that he understands that that is her subtle way of letting him know she wants to talk about his description, but he’s the one avoiding looking at her now. Looking down at his desk, fidgeting with his hair, the look on his face is one she has never seen on him before. He looks…angry. Is he angry with her?

Rey continues, “Does anyone have any questions before we get started?” Rey’s students just look around the room shaking their heads. “Alright. Well, like I said on Monday, we are going to peer review your all’s drafts of your midterm papers today. So, go ahead and break up into groups of 3-4 and pass out your copies among your group. I want you all to answer the following questions about your classmates dra—"

Rey sees Kylo’s hand go up now. Upset with how shaky her voice sounds, “Yes, Kylo?”

“I don’t have copies of my draft. I didn’t realize we were doing peer review today.”

“Oh, yes. You weren’t in class on Monday.” Rey’s trying so hard to sound casual at this point. “Well you can still provide feedback for whatever group you decide to work with, you just won’t get feedback on your draft if that’s okay.”

“Yeah, that’s fine. Thank you.” Kylo’s voice is small today. Rey watches him migrate over to Chad and Melody, the two students he usually works with during peer review. She hears Melody tell Kylo that he can email his draft to her tonight and she’ll give him feedback if he wants. Kylo smiles at her and says thank you. That unwanted feeling of jealousy returns when Rey sees Kylo smile at Melody and has to face away from them as she writes the peer review questions on the board that she wants her students to answer about their classmate’s drafts. Why does she feel like this all the sudden? 

“I will check on your all's progress in about 30 minutes, and if everyone has finished, we will get out of class a little early today,” Rey says with a small smile. She makes one last glance at Kylo, to see if he is looking at her, but he's already reading one of the drafts from his group. 

***

Rey is sitting in her office now, relieved that she was able to cut class short today after all. She couldn’t take much more of standing awkwardly at the podium, waiting for Kylo to look at her or ask questions about his advice to a student like he typically does.

Rey hears a knock on her office door and hurries to answer it, only to be disappointed that it isn’t Kylo at her door, but Greg, one of her other students.

“Hey Professor, I wanted to ask what you meant by ‘avoid jargon’ on my homework assignment. I’m not sure I get it.”

“Of course, Greg, come on in.”

After Rey explained what jargon is and why it’s inappropriate to use unless you are writing in a very specific type of genre, Greg looks even more confused.

“Does that make sense?” Rey asks with a sympathetic look on her face.

“Yeah, it makes sense now. Thanks, professor.”

Rey smiles and gets up to follow Greg out. As she nears her door, she sees Kylo standing in the hall looking at the events bulletin board. She freezes. As Greg walks past Kylo, he pats him on the back. The gesture causes him to look over his shoulder at Greg, then the opposite direction at Rey. They stare at each other for a few seconds before Kylo starts to walk towards her, a paper in his hands that Rey assumes is his assignment from earlier.

Stopping a few inches from where she stood, hovering slightly, making her feel small, Kylo says, “Hey.”

“Hi.”

“Can I…um…can I talk to you about this?” Holding his paper up to his chest.

“Yeah, um…come in.” Rey motions Kylo into her office, closing the door behind him and her. She knows it looks bad to close her door with a student in her office, but she’s not sure where this conversation is going to go and she doesn’t want any of her colleagues or other students passing by to hear it.

“So, what’s up?” Rey says a little too high-pitched, giving away her nervousness as she goes to sit behind her desk. Kylo is sitting in the chair across from Rey’s desk that she has for her students. 

Looking down at his paper and running his hand through his hair, a sight that Rey has to physically force herself to look away from. She pretends to look for something in one of her desk drawers.

“I know writing well and being creative isn’t really my strong suit, but I’ve never received an F for an assignment in your class, even the ones I’ve turned in late. I…I guess I just want to know what is so bad about this so I know not to do it again.” 

At first, Rey feels terrible because of the discouraged look on his face, but then she remembers what he wrote about, and then she’s angry. Why would he pretend like he doesn’t know what is wrong with his description? Writing about your fucking professor is what is wrong with this description, jackass.

Rey’s nostrils flare slightly, thinking of where to start, “Well, Kylo, your description wasn’t terrible, but it was kind of cliché, which was one of the main things I wanted you to avoid. Also, this description reads like a poem. I didn’t want you to write a poem, just a descriptive paragraph.”

“You never specified that our description couldn’t be written in a poetic form. I was under the impression that as long as we were attempting to be descriptive, that was all that really mattered.”

Completely dismissing his point, getting more upset that he is actually arguing with her over this, “You didn’t even describe a noun, Kylo, you described a pronoun.”

Clearly agitated, “I’m sorry. I guess I should have written ‘Professor Kenobi’ instead of ‘Her’ as my title. I’ll try to be a little less subtle next time.”

“Less subtle? Where in your description were you trying to be subtle about anything? Please, tell me!”

“So, your critique isn’t about grammar or the stylistic choice, it’s about the content, right?”

“Why the fuck did you write about me, to begin with? Why?”

This conversation is getting too heated and Rey feels her skin start to flush. Tapping her fingers on her desk rapidly waiting for his response.

After a long pause, “I couldn’t stop thinking about you this weekend. That’s why.”

Rey’s stomach flutters at Kylo’s answer and her breath hitches. She can’t get distracted though. She has to stick to her point and not reciprocate any form of mutual attraction or feelings towards him.

“What if another student had read your work, Kylo? Or one of my colleagues? What if my boss had read this? Do you have any idea how bad this looks? That it looks like there is something going on between us?”

Rey’s eyes are starting to water and her voice is trembling. She really doesn’t want to fall apart in front of her student, but this whole situation, whatever it is between her and Kylo, is confusing and frustrating and she wishes, more than anything right now, that he wasn’t her student.

“Hey, hey,” Kylo says in the softest tone Rey thinks she has ever heard from a man. “What’s wrong? Why are you crying?” He leans forward and grabs the hand she has laying on her desk – squeezing slightly to try to calm her down and stop her from shaking. 

Rey notes that his hand is three times the size of hers and engulfs her completely. A warm, tingling frenzy of nerves working its way up her arm from her fingertips. She refuses to make eye contact with him, humiliated that such a sweet, compassionate gesture is affecting her the way that it is. She slowly removes her hand from his and stands up. She needs to move, she can’t sit any longer.

Kylo turns around to face her, watching her cross her office over to a filing cabinet that she has a bottle of water sitting on the top of. Rey takes a sip, clearing her throat. “You can’t write stuff like that. Not in my class. If you want to redo the assignment and pick a different topic, you can. I’ll give you partial credit for it.”

Kylo stands now, walking towards Rey. She backs up slightly but is closer to the wall than she realizes as the cold concrete brushes against her backside. He is standing inches away from her like he was before. She wishes he would stop getting this close to her. 

“I’m really sorry. I had no idea that stupid fucking description was going to upset you so much.” He reaches his hand out, but quickly withdrawals it back down to his side. As if realizing that touching Rey right now may only make things worse. He just stares at her instead, searching her eyes intently. “I only wrote that because I knew you were going to be the only one reading it. Even if someone else were to read it, I don’t think they would assume it was about you, much less that there was something going on between us.”

Rey stares at him for several seconds before responding. Smiling weakly, “I’m sorry for how I just acted, really. I don’t know what came over me. I can’t believe I cursed at you.”

Kylo laughs at this, “I feel like we have been apologizing to each other a lot lately.”

Him saying this makes Rey think of last weekend and her face instantly heats up. “I’m just…I don’t know. I’m still humiliated by the way I acted on Saturday, and after reading your poem, I was afraid I gave you the wrong impression.”

Kylo looks slightly wounded. “What do you mean the wrong impression?”

Biting her lip, “You’re my student, Kylo. Whatever that was that happened between us last weekend can’t happen again, and it definitely can’t go any further than that.”

“Nothing really happened, professor. Nothing that I think you should feel guilty over anyway. You did nothing wrong.”

Rey is slightly offended that Kylo said ‘nothing really happened.’ That makes her think that she doesn’t affect him nearly as much as he affects her.

“I meant what I said that night though.” Rey looks up at him, confused by what he’s referring to. “I find you very attractive. Both physically and your personality.” 

His gaze drops lower to her lips as he bites his. Rey’s stomach does a flip at his reaction to her. He looks back up and meets her eyes. “And I meant what I said in that poem. But I understand why that and how I’ve been acting is inappropriate. I promise I won’t write anything else like that, and I won’t flirt with you anymore at bars.” His smile is teasing but genuine. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

Rey’s heart sinks into her stomach at his vow. While she knows what he is promising is the responsible, logical thing to do, she’s disappointed at the thought of him no longer flirting with her. She wonders if this will change the way he acts towards her during class? Will he distance himself, stop coming by her office to talk? 

“Thank you, Kylo.”

“You’re welcome, professor.”

They continue to stand where they have been for the last several minutes, staring at each other. Rey sees Kylo’s adam's apple bob slightly in his throat like he’s getting ready to say something. Rey looks at him expectantly, but he just smiles and breaks the eye contact.

“Well, I guess I will redo the assignment and email that to you tonight.”

He looks behind him and starts to step away, but Rey stops him. Grabbing his forearm, “Kylo?”

He turns back around to face her, his facial expression both confused and eager, “Yes?”

Taking a couple of seconds to think of how to phrase what she is getting ready to ask him, “The arc – the thing you wrote about in your description. What is that? Like, what are you referring to?”

Kylo looks like a deer in the headlights, almost embarrassed that Rey even asked him that question and that he would have to answer it. Instead of giving her a verbal response though, Kylo steps forward, closing all space between the two of them. He reaches his hand out again, but this time, he doesn’t withdrawal. He lightly touches Rey’s neck, and then, runs his fingers curiously down the length, like he is experimenting to see if this intimate contact will be accepted or rejected. 

Rey stops breathing. She stops thinking. Shocked by his boldness and heating up under his touch. She feels her whole body flush as she just stares at him while he caresses her.

Kylo reaches the part of her neck just above the collarbone that hollows out and stops. “Here.” He whispers, barely comprehensible. “This is what I was referring to.”

Kylo looks up from Rey’s neck to her eyes again, waiting for her to respond, but she can’t. The only thing she can muster is to part her lips as proof that she is not frozen. Kylo’s eyes dart down to watch this movement. Rey lets out a staggered breath she has been holding in and watches Kylo as he moves his face slowly downward towards hers.

Rey knows what his intentions are, and in this moment, even though it is going against everything she said she would never do, she doesn’t care. She wants this -- wants him. His lips are so close to hers that she can feel his breath on her, taste it. 

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Rey, on instinct, jumps and knocks her forehead into Kylo’s nose which causes him to inwardly curse.

“Rey, are you in there? It’s 1:00.”

“Hold on just a sec, Finn!”

She looks up at Kylo, who is holding his nose, and she whispers, “I’m so sorry.”

She darts across her office to put as much distance between her and Kylo as possible and opens the door.

“Hey, come in. I’m just packing up.”

Finn steps in and before he can say anything, he sees Kylo picking up his notebook and pen from Rey’s desk and rubbing his nose. Finn’s mouth drops open and he stares at Rey wide-eyed in disbelief. Rey avoids eye contact with him.

“Kylo, if you can have that makeup assignment completed and emailed to me before Friday, that would be great.”

“Uh yes, of course. Thank you, professor. See you Friday.”

Kylo awkwardly waves bye to both Rey and Finn on his way out of her office, and they do the same in response.

Finn turns back to Rey who willingly looks at him now, waiting for an explanation.

“It’s really not what you’re thinking.”

“Right.”


	5. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey cannot stay away from Kylo any longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it has taken me so long to get this chapter out, everyone. I have been very busy the past week or so. 
> 
> As always, thank you all for all of the positive comments and feedback! I hope you enjoy this chapter! We finally get to see a little bit of action between Rey and Kylo. ;)

There is nothing but hair. Dark, shiny, delicious locks of hair in her hands, in her face. It tickles her skin as his lips follow her neck down, sucking wildly but with purpose once he reaches her collarbone. She moans into his hair as he grinds his weight into her groin, pushing her legs apart with a strong thigh to gain more friction and all-around closeness. He’s telling her all the things he wants to do to her in her ear and it’s maddening. He wants to ravish her – watch her come undone beneath him. His mouth, warm and tender with its touch, traces down her bare stomach until it reaches where she aches for him most. Looking up at her through hooded lashes as his lips glide delicately over her wet folds, as if afraid to ruin the moment altogether, he waits for her accord -- her consent to further explore, to know each other on a different level, a more personal level. She is writhing. She looks at him, full of lust, and –

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

It’s 7:00 AM. It’s time for Rey to get out of bed and get ready for work. 

She rolls over to turn off her alarm and just lays there, wetness pooling in between her legs. She inwardly groans. This is the third dream she’s had about Kylo this week and they’re only getting worse. 

***

Rey can’t stop thinking about Kylo. It’s been two weeks since their last encounter in her office and he’s barely said two words to her. Kylo still participates in class discussion and engages with Rey in that setting, but he hasn’t been to her office since he promised to stop flirting with her. 

He doesn’t appear to be angry or upset with her. In fact, she had him stay after class on Wednesday to ask random, bullshit questions about their previous class discussion and he acted like his normal self --still just as polite as he has always been and smiled as Rey made snarky remarks. 

This isn’t enough for her though. She wants more.

Even though this is what Rey asked for, she has been spinning her wheels trying to come up with a way to be around Kylo outside of class. Just to talk.

It finally dawns on Rey in her office on Friday afternoon – Twiggies. Last time Rey ran into Kylo at Twiggies, he said he goes there regularly to avoid the college crowd. She doesn’t know how often regularly is, but maybe he would be there this weekend?

Rey, looking up at Finn, who has been sitting in her office watching videos of French Bulldogs on Instagram, “Would you want to go out this weekend?”

Finn, meeting Rey’s curious stare, “I mean, I’m always up for going out, but you never are. Is there something special going on this weekend?”

“Nothing special, I just want to go out. I feel like I haven’t left this office or my apartment in weeks.”

“Fine by me. Can Poe come too?”

“Of course. He’s always invited. Should we invite Jess also?

“I don’t know. Poe still hasn’t recovered from her for latching onto him at your birthday party.”

Rey smiles. “We just won’t tell her then. I’m not trying to make this a big outing anyway. Just the three of us.”

“Who is DD this time?”

“I guess I will be since it was my idea. I’m having at least one beer though.”

Finn, laughing, “Sounds good to me. Do you just want to do our usual? Twiggies tomorrow around 10:00?”

“Yes!”

Finn, finding it odd that Rey is so eager to go the same boring old bar, “Alright…cool.”

“I’ll pick you two up tomorrow around 10:00.”

“It’s a date.”

***

Rey has decided to wear an olive colored romper she bought a few months ago because it makes her eyes look extra green. It’s long sleeve, but the sleeves are a lacey material. This romper also has a v-cut in the back but is not near as dramatic as the dress she wore for her birthday. If she is to run into Kylo tonight, she doesn’t want to look like she’s trying too hard; however, she wants to leave open opportunities for cautious fingers to wander over her skin again. 

She really should not be putting this much thought into her outfit, especially with the intent to catch one of her student’s eye. What is wrong with her?  
Once Rey, Finn, and Poe arrive at Twiggies and get their first drink, Rey scopes the place out. She looks around the seating areas, the pool room, she even goes out to the patio to see if Kylo is there smoking. Rey doesn’t know if he smokes or not, but she was not going to leave a single inch of this bar unlooked at. She’s starting to become discouraged when she sees Kylo sitting at the bar.

He wasn’t sitting there ten minutes ago, Rey thinks to herself. He must have just gotten here. Despite every urge in her body telling her to do so, Rey doesn’t walk over to the bar. She decides to sit at the table Finn and Poe have picked to act like lovesick teenagers at on the other side of the room – watching him like the creep she is. If he really did just get here, she doesn’t want to go over and make it look like she’s been waiting on him. 

Rey observes Kylo for about 20 minutes. During this observation, she notes that he came here alone, but apparently is friends with the bartender working tonight. They’ve been talking and laughing since he got here. Rey also notes that he drinks his whiskey neat.  
Rey looks away from the bar momentarily to see what Finn and Poe are doing, because she hasn’t heard them laughing and bullshitting for the last several minutes, and of course, they’re making out. Rey doesn’t know why she agreed to go out with just the two of them. She should have known she would end up being the third wheel.

Between her friends locking lips and finishing her beer, Rey takes that as her cue to walk over to the bar. 

“I’ll be back you guys. I’m going to get another drink.”

Finn and Poe don’t even acknowledge her. This causes Rey to roll her eyes hard. She makes her way over to the bar. Her heart pounding so hard she expects it to burst out of her chest before she even gets there. 

Rey decides to see if she can get Kylo to notice her instead of her being the first to say hello. She chooses a spot at the bar where she isn’t close to Kylo, but right in his line of vision. She pretends to look at the tap selection while she waits for the bartender to notice her. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Kylo visibly sit up straight and motion toward her to his bartender friend. As the bartender walks over to Rey to ask what she would like, she looks in Kylo’s direction nonchalantly. 

He’s staring at her. He looks so caught off guard and almost embarrassed to see her here. This stings a little, but Rey reassures herself that she is reading too much into his reaction. Rey smiles ever so slightly to acknowledge that she sees him too and waves. Kylo smiles and waves back. The bartender brings Rey the small IPA she asked for. Rey takes a sip and looks over her shoulder back at her friends. When she turns back around in Kylo’s direction, he’s gone.

Was he really so uneasy about her being at the bar that he had to leave entirely? Feeling completely disheartened now, Rey takes another sip of her beer and decides to just go back to her friends and tell them she’s ready to leave. When she turns to walk away from the bar though, she’s greeted by a familiar face to her right.

“Fancy running into you here, Professor,” Kylo says with that endearing smile that she feels like she hasn’t seen enough of lately. 

Rey smiles back, “It’s been a rough week – needed a night to unwind.”

“Rough week of class I presume?”

“Yeah, grading midterm papers and all. It’s been pretty exhausting.”

“I can imagine,” Kylo says with a smile still on his face as he finishes off the rest of his whiskey. 

Rey looks around as silence falls between them. How has the conversation gotten so awkward already? They’ve barely said three words to each other. Rey knows it’s because of what happened in her office. They haven’t exactly addressed that encounter since it happened.

“Rey.” She says after several more seconds of quiet. This causes Kylo to look down at her, slightly confused.

“What is it?”

“You don’t have to call me professor in public. You can just call me Rey. Calling me professor in a bar makes me feel like I’m old and should be at home reading.”

Kylo laughs at this, genuinely amused by what Rey just said.

“Well, Rey, would you like to take a shot with me? It will help you unwind.”

“I really shouldn’t. I’m the DD tonight and I’m already on my second beer.”

“DD? So, you’re here with friends?”

“Yeah, I'm with the two lovely gentlemen over there in the corner making out like they’re in high school.”

Kylo laughs again. “DD and third wheel? I think you deserve a shot for agreeing to be both of those things tonight.” 

Rey laughs now. “You know, that’s actually a really good point. Only one though.”

Kylo waves his friend down and asks for two shots of patron. The shot is so harsh going down that Rey’s nose crinkles up in disgust as she shakes her head. Kylo’s eyes are glued to her while she does this, smiling boyishly at her.

“Let’s play darts.”

Rey, caught off guard by the random request, “I’m terrible at darts.”

“So am I. Let’s do it.”

Rey really doesn’t want to tell Kylo no. He looks eager to play with her and make fools of themselves.

“I really probably should get back to my friends.”

“Your friends are busy. You would just be sitting there watching them. Play one game with me then you can go back to them if you want.”

Rey smiling at Kylo as Kylo smiles at her. 

“Fine. One game.”

***

What was supposed to be one game turned into three. An hour had passed and things had seemed to go back to normal between Rey and Kylo; all awkwardness gone.  
They talked about everything. Kylo asked Rey what part of England she was originally from because he couldn’t tell based on her accent alone. Rey asked Kylo to share some of his experiences in the Air Force. They talked like two friends that hadn’t seen each other in years and had a lot of catching up to do. And in a sense, they did have a lot to catch up on.   
Rey decided to sit down at the high-top table next to the dart board she and Kylo had been using to check her phone. She had several texts from Finn and even a missed call from Poe. Both were clearly worried and Rey instantly felt horrible for letting an hour go by without checking in with them.

Rey texted Finn back, “I’m OK. I wasn’t kidnapped and I didn’t leave. I’m with Kylo…”

As soon as Rey sat her phone down it lit back up. God, was Finn just staring at his phone waiting for Rey to text him back?

“You’ve been with Kylo this whole time? Wtf?”

“What? I ran into him at the bar and he wanted to play darts. I lost track of time.”

“Right. For someone who claims to not like their student, you sure are spending a lot of tim with him.”

Rey’s nostrils flare. She is not in the mood for Finn’s drunken sass right now. The only thing she says in response is, “Time*.”

She sits her phone down again and looks at Kylo who is now just playing darts by himself. She smiles when he throws a dart so hard that it bounces off the board into the floor. He curses.

Rey’s phone lights up again.

“OK, grammar police. We will be on the patio when you’re done not having a crush on your student.”

Rey is so tempted to tell Finn to fuck off, but she knows he’s really drunk. Also, Kylo comes over to her before she has a chance to respond.

“Do you want another beer? I’m going to grab one.”

“I really shou—“

“You haven’t had anything to drink in over an hour. Come on.” 

Normally a guy being so persistent with Rey would annoy the shit out of her, but there’s something about Kylo’s persistence that is innocent; like a child trying to get their parent to play with them or something. Rey can’t resist it.

“Fine. But bring me a water also.”

Kylo smiles real big and goes back to the bar, leaving Rey to process what has happened so far tonight. Nothing inappropriate has happened. All they have done is play darts and talk. And laugh…a lot. They haven’t even touched. This is good. Maybe things will go back to normal and Kylo will start coming to her office again after class. Maybe they can be friendly without awkward sexual tension like before.

As Kylo approaches the table that Rey has claimed, he sits her water down on the table and hands her her beer. Their fingers brush and this causes Rey to jump slightly. Only because she wasn’t expecting the contact, not because she’s affected by him or anything.

Kylo, looking somewhat affected, “Here you go.”

Rey smiles and looks down at her legs, crossing the right one over the left. Rey looks back up at Kylo to thank him, but she sees that he is actually staring at her legs.  
This causes Rey to blush and shift uncomfortably. Kylo looks back up at her, realizing she’s caught him ogling and laughs nervously, apologizing as he looks away.

Rey, wanting to direct his eyes back to hers, “You haven’t stopped by my office here lately. Why?”

This does cause Kylo to look back at her, jerking his head in her direction faster than she anticipated. The look on his face uneasy, like he isn’t sure how to answer the question.

“I’ve had a lot of work to do for school. A lot of midterm projects and stuff.”

Rey nods, knowing that is a perfectly logical explanation, but she still feels like his not stopping by anymore has something to do with what happened the last time they were together.

“You know, when I told you not to flirt with me anymore, I didn’t mean I wanted you to stop talking to me and hanging out too.” 

She hates the vulnerability in her voice. She’s hoping it’s just the alcohol making her sound like someone’s heartbroken girlfriend and not because she’s actually this upset over his lack of presence the last couple of weeks.

Kylo looks at her empathetically, almost as if he knows her pain.

“I haven’t stopped by lately because I’ve been worried I wouldn’t be able to control myself if I was alone with you again.”

Rey, stunned by his answer, “What do you mean?”

Kylo just stares at her, like he’s in deep thought, trying to figure out how to articulate his next response. 

After several seconds of silence, to the point it’s getting uncomfortable again for Rey, she asks, “Why are you staring at me like that?”

Snapping out of his trance and smiling, shaking his head in that way he does when he’s embarrassed, “Your eyes are just so… captivating. They’re beaming.”

Rey blushes uncontrollably, but she can’t deny that his words make her melt where she sits.

“I thought you weren’t flirting with me at bars anymore, Kylo?” She says with a playful smile on her face.

“I’m technically not flirting with you at a bar, we’re in a pool room.” Kylo’s says with the most self-satisfied smirk on his face.

Rey laughs and shakes her head, “You think you’re clever, don’t you?”

Kylo, biting his bottom lip trying to hide his boyish smile, “Maybe.”

Rey’s smiling all big and cheesy now – blushing shamelessly and giggling. She can’t help it. “Well, thank you. Your eyes aren’t so bad either.”

Another several minutes pass with them just staring at each other. Rey knows that if she’s feeling the alcohol right now, Kylo has to be as well. He has had way more to drink than she has.

“If your colleague hadn’t knocked on your office door, would you have let me kiss you?” Kylo asks, apprehensive about her response.

Rey looks down at her now empty drink, not able to look at him directly, “Yeah…I think I would have.”

“If I kissed you now, would you let me?”

Rey’s face shot up. Completely dumbfounded by what he just asked her.

“What?”

He puts both hands on the table top behind Rey’s chair, caging her in between his arms and leans downward so that their faces are parallel.

“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about kissing you since that day in your office,” He says in a low growl, staring first at her eyes, then slowly drifting down to her lips.  
He starts to lean in a little closer but Rey puts her hand on his chest. She tells herself it’s to stop him from moving closer, but she has been itching to touch him all night. His chest is hard, as she suspected. She moves her hand down his chest in the smallest of movements, trying not to make it obvious that she wants to feel more of him, but this tiny gesture still causes Kylo to take a sharp breath and hold it there – watching Rey to see what she does next. 

Rey, in a voice breathier than she intended, “Kylo, I –“

“Just one time. I just…I need to know.” He brings a hand up to her face and lightly runs his thumb across her jaw line. “You don’t have to kiss me back.”

Rey doesn’t say anything, she just looks at Kylo licks her lips. Kylo doesn’t move, he looks at her – waiting for her to either give him the okay or tell him to fuck off. 

“Just one time,” Rey whispers.

Kylo moves then, tilting his head slightly at an angle. When his lips are not even a centimeter from Rey’s he looks at her again, asking if this is still okay with his eyes.  
Rey nods. He presses his lips to hers then. He stays there for a minute before he moves to takes Rey’s bottom lip between his teeth and suck on it ever so lightly before pulling away -- but only an inch; looking back at Rey again to gauge her reaction. She opens her eyes and looks wild. Something in that kiss, as simple and innocent as it was, has woken something in Rey that she wasn’t expecting.

She looks at him for only a moment before she’s cupping his face and dragging it back to hers, crushing her lips into his.

Kylo moans against Rey’s mouth and it sends shivers down her spine. She moves the hand she had resting on his chest up to the back of his neck and tangles her fingers in his hair.

Rey feels Kylo’s tongue glide across her lower lip, asking permission to enter her mouth and Rey grants it access. The realization that a part of Kylo is not only on her but in her now-- in her mouth, is causing her center to dampen. His tongue is slick and hot. He is searching for her tongue and once he finds it, another satisfied moan escapes his mouth. Kylo’s reaction to kissing Rey ignites a fire in her and encourages her to keep going. She tugs on his hair and pulls him closer to her. She takes one of her hands lost in his hair and drags it down his neck, slightly grazing his neck with her fingernails and causing him to kiss her harder.  
Kylo’s hands are all over Rey like he doesn’t know where to start. They’re on her face, in her hair, on her back. Kylo takes one hand and hooks it under Rey’s right knee that is crossed over her other leg. He slowly lifts her right leg off her left, spreading them apart just enough so that he can stand in between them. 

Rey is losing her mind over all the sensations she is feeling right now. Especially the growing wetness between her legs. She scoots closer to the edge of her seat and subtly grinds against Kylo's abdomen.

This must send Kylo over the edge because, in an instant, his mouth is on her neck, one hand is cupping her ass while the other grips hard at her waist. Kylo drags his teeth back up Rey’s neck to her ear like he did the first time they hung out at Twiggies.

He can’t control the breathy harshness in his voice. He cannot hide his arousal.

“I want you, Rey.”

Rey moans quietly into his hair like she dreamed a couple nights ago. This can’t be happening, she thinks to herself. She can’t let this happen.

“Ky—“

Rey’s phone lights up again. It’s Finn.

“Poe and I are ready to go. Are you?”

Rey curses inwardly, burying her face under Kylo’s jaw, close to his ear, “Kylo, I have to go.”

“Why?” Kylo says in a voice so deep and husky that it makes Rey want to grind up against him again. 

“My friends are ready to go.”

Kylo pulls away from Rey slightly, still touching, but able to look down at her now. 

“What are you doing tomorrow?”

Rey’s brow furrows at this question.

“Nothing—“

“Do you want to finish this tomorrow?”


	6. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the past week, Kylo has been coming to Rey’s office during office hours, and Rey has been closing the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the incredibly long delay, everyone. This chapter is, unfortunately, going to be a lot shorter than previous ones I have written for this fic. I have a lot of ideas I've been rolling around as to what's going to happen next with Rey and Kylo and I don't want to risk making the storyline sound rushed by posting too soon. So just consider this chapter a step towards better, smuttier things to come. ;)

For the past week, Kylo has been coming to Rey’s office during office hours, and Rey has been closing the door. 

Rey’s happy to have Kylo visiting her again, but she knows what is going on in her office while he’s there shouldn’t be happening.

It’s Friday and Kylo is sitting in Rey’s spacious office chair while Rey straddles him. Her fingers are tangled in Kylo’s hair, tugging as his teeth graze over her neck. His right-hand grips Rey’s back while the other fumbles with the top button of her blouse. 

“Kylo” Rey mumbles into his hair, “What are you doing?”

Kylo has the top three buttons undone and is laying feather light kisses along the swell of Rey’s breast. He is rock hard underneath Rey and she can’t help but feel pleased with the effect she is having on him with such little effort.

Kylo, leaning back in the chair to look up at Rey, “Am I moving too fast?”

Rey snorts and Kylo looks at her concerned yet confused. She trails a finger across his jaw line and holds his chin in place as she leans down to give him a reassuring peck on the lips.

“I’m sorry. No. You’re not moving too fast. I just don’t think we should be doing that in my office.” She says in the softest of voices. 

Kylo smiles at her, “There are a few things we shouldn’t be doing in your office, but still are.”

Rey rolls her eyes at this. She knows Kylo is just teasing, but she doesn’t need a reminder that what she is doing is very unprofessional and unethical. 

After the first time they kissed at Twiggies, Rey did not feel guilty. What happened between them felt…right. There was this unspoken comfort between the two of them that night -- something reassuring in that kiss, despite how steamy and inappropriate it got, that let Rey know that she could trust Kylo to keep this thing between them a secret.

They did hang out the day after Twiggies, like Kylo asked. He came over to Rey’s apartment and they ordered a pizza, watched documentaries about social injustices throughout history, and made out a little more. Well, a lot more. It was the most fun Rey has had in a long time and she hates that. 

She hates that she is having fun hanging out with her student and doing things with him like she would if she were casually seeing someone. Granted, if they are going to see each other outside of school, they kind of have to hideout in either Rey’s apartment or Kylo’s, but it’s starting to feel like there maybe might be feelings developing and Rey doesn’t want that. She just wants to scratch this itch she has with Kylo and be done with it – move on. 

He’s so respectful of her though. He really doesn’t want to make her uncomfortable in any way. Like just a moment ago when he asked if he was moving too fast. Come on, Rey is not a virgin. Getting felt up is like a handshake compared to the things she has actually done, but it is so charming that he even thinks to ask.

“What are you doing tonight?” Kylo asks, buttoning her blouse back up.

“Um, not anything that I can think of at the moment. I could always grade, but –"

“Would you want to come over to my place tonight? I could cook. Or we could order something. Whatever you want to do.”

Kylo is smiling so sweetly at Rey and her stomach fills up with an overwhelming number of butterflies. He wants to cook for her. That is so – emotional. No. She can’t go over to his apartment and let him cook for her. She really needs to put a stop to this right now. She cannot start to like Kylo...more so than she already does.

“Kylo, that sounds kind of like a date. I mean, cooking for me?”

“It could be. I guess it depends on how you look at it. I see it as just spending time with someone I enjoy being around.”

“You only enjoy being around me because I’m letting you grope me now. This is like every school boys fantasy.” Rey rolls her eyes playfully and Kylo grins, shaking his head bashfully.

“No professor, I enjoy being around you because I like talking to you. You’re interesting.”

It’s Rey’s turn to blush now. She is getting in way over her head. She knows it.

To deter the conversation from emotional back to strictly sexual, Rey leans her face towards Kylo’s, grinding her hips on his erection he still surprising has, eliciting an animalistic growl from his throat, “Don’t call me professor while I’m on top of you. Call me Rey.” 

Rey’s lips are hovering just an inch away from Kylo’s. She looks at him and sees an intensity in his eyes that looks like he’s ready to take her right there in her office now. 

Kylo, sliding his hands up Rey’s thigh, snaking under her skirt ever so slightly, but stopping before he gets too close, “What if I want to call you professor while you’re on top of me?”

Rey visibly shivers at his question. It’s that goddamn voice, so low and husky. He could literally ask her how her day was in that tone of voice and a spike of pleasure would course through her. 

She doesn’t say anything, she just stares at him. Frozen.

“Will you join me for dinner tonight, Rey?”

She merely nods.

“Good.”

Kylo starts to shift and Rey rises to get off him. She forgets that he has another class right after her office hours.

As he is gathering his things and heading for the door, he turns back around and smiles at her. 

“Do you like Thai food?”

Rey smiles back, “Never tried it.”


	7. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey wants to play a game and gets in over her head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, everyone, for all of your positive feedback and patience while I have been working on this fic! I wanted to conclude this chapter with Rey kind of left on a cliffhanger on where she stands with Kylo, so I apologize for how frustrating the ending is going to be. Chapter Eight will not disappoint though, I promise. ;)

Rey isn’t sure what she was expecting Kylo’s apartment to look like, but she is surprised yet not all at the same time. She feels like she knows Kylo’s interests pretty well by now, given their endless conversations about literature and music, but she is still delighted to see certain aspects of his personality incorporated into his decorating that she wouldn’t have expected.

Like the Pink Floyd and Oasis band posters hanging in his living room. And like the bookshelf full of postmodern lit and computer engineering textbooks. She’s even tickled to see his Steam account pulled up on his computer monitor with games like Borderlands and Destiny in the library. He is mature, yet still so boyish and fun. It’s a combination that Rey finds tugging at her heart and she doesn’t like it.

She’s caught admiring the pictures in his hallway of him and old Air Force buddies when he comes up behind her with a glass filled with some sort of alcoholic beverage she isn’t familiar with.

“I know whiskey sours are typically your drink of choice, but I thought I’d introduce you to something new,” Kylo says, smiling as he hands her the drink.

Rey smiles and looks down at the glass, “What is it?”

“Dark and stormy. It’s rum and ginger beer. If you don’t like it, I can make you something else.”

Kylo is nervous. Rey can tell. His hands never shake and she can bet that his apartment is never this thoroughly clean. She takes a quick sip, making eye contact with Kylo as she does so. Her eyes get wider and she makes a “mmmm” sound that is muffled by the glass.

She lifts the glass down from her mouth, “This is really good! I didn’t realize you were an amateur bartender also.”

This causes Kylo to laugh and give Rey a very coy smile. It’s so endearing.

“Dinner is almost ready. Are you hungry?”

“Yes. Starving.”

***

Kylo made Panang curry with chicken and Rey is losing her mind over it. Why has she never tried Thai before?

It turns out Kylo actually spent a summer in Thailand after he graduated from the Air Force. That’s where he learned to make Panang curry and a few other dishes that he’s fairly confident about and offers to make for her another time.

Rey is impressed. She isn’t going to lie. Just as she’s finishing off her dark and stormy, she catches Kylo staring at her. He smiles at her and she smiles back.

“You look very pretty tonight.”

Rey snorts. She’s literally wearing a plain gray t-shirt and skinny jeans, and chucks. She didn’t even bother to put makeup on before coming over. She isn’t sure why she chose to dress so casually tonight. Kylo has always seen her in professional teacher pin skirts or her more suggestive bar outfits. 

“I look like a 12-year-old boy.”

It’s Kylo’s turn to laugh. 

“You definitely do not. I promise.”

“Well maybe not a 12-year-old boy, but my outfit is very boyish.”

“I like it. I like seeing you dressed so…comfortably.”

This makes Rey squirm. She knows Kylo means it as a compliment, but she doesn’t like that she’s dressed ‘comfortably’ around him. She doesn’t want to be comfortable around him.

“Also, those jeans make your ass look amazing,” Kylo says with a smug grin as he scratches the back of his neck.

Rey tries to have an annoyed expression on her face and roll her eyes, but she just ends up breaking down and laughing along. Kylo complimenting her ass gives her an idea on how to steer the conversation away from sweet compliments and intimate stares.

“Let’s play a game.”

Kylo looks taken aback. Standing up from the table to take his and Rey’s plates to the kitchen sink.

“What kind of game? And would you like another drink?”

“It’s kind of like truth or dare, but without the dare. And yes, please.”

“Another dark and stormy, or something different? And why just the truth? Dares are the fun part.”

Rey does roll her eyes now. “Because dares are silly. Truth is more interesting. And I’ll have another stormy.”

Kylo smiles at her nickname for the mixed drink. “What’s so interesting about asking people cliché questions like ‘who was your first crush?’ and ‘what is the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done?’”

Rey, looking slightly offended, but in a playful way, “Um, those questions are very interesting. And what makes this version of truth or dare more interesting is every question you ask has to be related to sex.”

Kylo looks up from the drink he is mixing and gives Rey a mischievous grin. 

“Okay. I’m in.”

***

Kylo and Rey sit on Kylo’s couch, but on opposite ends, grilling each other about every sex related topic they can possibly think of. It’s been hilarious so far, if Rey’s being completely honest. A lot of embarrassing sex stories have been shared, but it makes her feel oddly jealous to think of how many sexual partners and casual hookups Kylo has had. It makes her feel like she isn’t going to be anything special to him when they do have sex. All she will be is another funny story for the next time he plays this game with another girl.

Why the fuck is she getting upset by that? Kylo being fairly experienced only means that he is going to satisfy her needs. Besides, she doesn’t want to mean anything to Kylo anyway, right?

“What is your favorite body part on a woman? And it can’t be tits, asses, or vaginas because those are obviously every man’s answer to this question.”

Kylo chuckles. Rey is buzzed and it is apparent because her language is becoming very crass.

“I like spines. Women’s backs, in general, are sexy, but I really like spines.”

Rey laughs, “That’s definitely not what I was expecting. Why spines?”

“I’m not sure really. There’s just something sexy about spines to me. I like the feel of them underneath my fingers.”

Rey shivers as she thinks back to her birthday night when he whispered happy birthday in her ear and ran his fingers up the length of her spine.

“So that neck arc thing you wrote about is not your favorite part on a woman’s body?” Rey asks thoughtfully but also teasing.

Kylo smiles and looks down at the remainder of his drink, “No. the neck arc thing is my favorite part of your body…that’s not a sex organ that is.”

Rey blushes. That’s something that he’s noticed only on her. That’s so sweet.

“What about you? What is your favorite part of a man’s body?”

Rey thinks for a minute. “I like backs too…if they’re muscular. Not like ripped, just defined and strong. I like hands too. Especially if they’re large and veiny.”

“Are you sure you’re talking about hands, Rey?” Kylo says teasingly, hoping to get a rise out of her. 

She tilts her glass up to her mouth and flips Kylo off. As she sets her empty glass down on the coffee table, “What’s your favorite thing to do during sex?”

Kylo, without missing a beat, “I like to go down on women.”

This sends a shock straight to Rey’s center. Her whole entire body heating up at the thought of Kylo going down on her.

She tries to ask in a tone that is not too clearly affected by that visual, “Why that? It’s just you pleasuring the woman, you don’t get anything in return.”

“That’s not true. I get more pleasure from it than you realize. Just watching a woman’s reaction to getting ate out is incredibly satisfying.”

Rey shifts uncomfortably. What she would give to see Kylo between her legs right now. Those pouty lips of his working her over.

“What is your favorite position?”

“Rey, this game is kind of you asking me questions more than it is we asking each other questions,” Kylo says genuinely amused.

Rey shrugs, “You are always asking me questions in class. It’s my turn to ask you questions.”

Laughing, “Fair enough. My favorite position is missionary.”

“BULLSHIT.”

“What?”

“No guy prefers missionary sex. You all are all about doggy and reverse cowgirl and shit,” Rey says laughing but totally serious about calling Kylo’s buff.

“I swear. I want to see my partners face when they come. And I want them to see mine.”

Rey’s mouth literally drops open at Kylo’s response. She is aching between her legs and needs release. She is definitely learning a lot about Kylo tonight.

“I’ve never experienced that,” Rey says in a low voice, barely audible.

“Experienced what?”

Rey, embarrassed to have to repeat it, “Seeing my partners face when they come. Or them seeing mine.”

Kylo’s pupils are blown wide. A familiar animalistic gaze meeting hers and it’s making Rey all the more embarrassed…and aroused.

“What makes you come, Rey?”

Rey nearly chokes on her own spit. She doesn’t even know how to begin to answer that question. This game seemed like such a good idea at first, now she’s regretting ever suggesting it.

“Well—" she starts, a tremble in her voice that she hopes isn’t noticeable, “I’m not really sure. Myself? I usually don’t orgasm during sex, I have to get myself off afterwards.”

It’s Kylo’s turn to be shocked by her response. “You have never orgasmed during sex?”

Rey feels so embarrassed now. Why did she even admit that? Kylo is going to think she isn’t fun to have sex with now.

“Not that I can recall, no. Keep in mind, my sexual experience is full of one-nighter’s that usually end after the guy has gotten off,” Rey says trying to cast blame on her partners rather than make it seem like there’s something wrong with her. 

Kylo looks like he’s cursing under his breath. About what though?

“What about foreplay?”

“What about it?”

“Have you ever had an orgasm during foreplay?”

“Oh. No, I don’t think I have during foreplay either. At least not that I can remember. It never lasts long enough.”

Rey has turned what should have been a fun and arousing game into something awkward and disappointing. She never realized until now how unsatisfying her sex life has actually been. She guesses where she’s always sort of been detached during any sexual encounter, she never noticed the lack of fulfillment on her part.

Kylo is looking at Rey’s face, biting his lip, like he’s deep in thought. Rey just wanted to end the night with finally having sex with Kylo, but now she’s worried she’s made herself seem unappealing to him.

Kylo smiles weakly, looking down at his watch. “Wow. I can’t believe it’s 2:00 AM already.”

Rey feels devastated. Maybe she’s being paranoid, but she’s afraid Kylo is bringing up the time because he wants her to leave.

“Yeah, it’s pretty late. I should probably get going. I’m tired.”

Rey goes to stand and grabs her empty glass from earlier to take to the kitchen. Kylo follows her.

“If you’re too tired to drive, you can always stay here. You can sleep in my bed and I’ll take the couch.”

She knows he means this as a sweet gesture, the gentlemanly thing to do, but Rey is offended that Kylo would let her sleep in his bed alone. If she were to stay, she would want him in his bed with her after he just fucked the shit out of her.

“Oh no. That’s okay. I’m okay to drive home.”

Kylo looks slightly disappointed now, but Rey is far too humiliated to notice. She gathers up her things and starts to walk towards the door. She stops in front of it and turns to look up at Kylo who is hovering over her.

“Thank you for dinner and the drinks. It was all really great.”

Kylo, smiling weakly at her once again, “I’m glad you enjoyed it. Thank you for spending the evening with me. I really like spending time with you.” He brushes her hair behind her ear and his fingers linger on her jaw. As intimate as the gesture is, Rey can’t help but feel like he’s doing it out of pity. Like he pities her for how inexperienced she seems to be sexually now.

He leans down for a kiss, gentle and warm, and it sends shivers down Rey’s spine. She really hopes she hasn’t blown this with Kylo now. Not before they’ve even had a chance to do anything other than make out. 

He breaks away from the kiss but touches his forehead to Rey’s looking her in the eyes. He smiles again, “Drive safely, okay?”

She smiles the littlest of smiles because it’s all she can manage. “I will. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

And with that, she turns and exits through the door.


	8. Chapter Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A miscommunication between Rey and Kylo is resolved in the best of ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let the smut begin. ;)

Rey feels like garbage. She hasn’t heard from Kylo all weekend. Not that he has her number or anything, but she was hoping to receive some sort of email from him explaining why things got so awkward all of the sudden. Or at least an email explaining that because of her lack of experience, he no longer wants to pursue a sexual relationship with her.

And it’s not even that Rey is inexperienced, she just has never had an orgasm during sex. She didn’t realize that was such a big deal. She thought most women didn’t orgasm during sex, but Kylo made her feel like it was something abnormal and a failure on her part.

And she realizes she could be totally overreacting, something she tends to do often, but she just wants Kylo to still be attracted to her. And why? Rey has never been the type of girl to seek male approval, ever. And it’s not even like Kylo is the kind of guy that wants women to want his approval, he’s anything but that. Maybe that’s why she wants him to still be interested. He’s different from all the other assholes she has hooked up with. He’s actually a nice, respectful guy.

***

It’s Monday morning and Rey decides to cancel class. She isn’t feeling well enough to teach (she didn’t sleep at all this weekend worrying about what happened with Kylo Friday night) and just needs to get some rest. 

She lays in bed for about 2 hours before deciding to be productive and not just wallow in her self-pity. She pulls herself together and drives to campus to work from her office.

Rey is only in her office for about 15 minutes when she hears a knock on the door. It’s Finn. She texted him on her way to campus and asked to meet after he was finished teaching. 

Rey hasn’t had a chance to catch Finn up on what has been going on with Kylo lately. She tells herself it’s because she has been so busy, but really, she knows it’s because she’s worried about what he is going to say. She knows he’s going to be upset. She hasn’t even told him about their first kiss over a week ago. 

“It’s open!”

Finn opens the door with 2 cheese Danishes in hand.

“I have breakfast for us.”

“You didn’t have to do that. You know I hate when you buy me food.”

“Oh, I didn’t buy these. They were in the department refrigerator and no one was around. I snagged them.”

Rey giggles as she takes the pastry from Finn’s hand.

“I have something I need to tell you.”

***

Rey sits there and just stares at Finn, waiting for him to respond. He looks…calm? Like he’s not angry, or hurt, or even surprised.

“Do you have anything you want to say to me…about this?”

Finn, finishing his pastry and brushing the crumbs off his hands into the floor of Rey’s office, “Not really. I knew you were going to cave eventually.”

Rey just looks at him dumbfounded. He knew she was going to cave eventually? Does he really think that little of her resistance and willpower?

“You’re not upset that I’m just now telling you?”

“Am I the first person to know? Does Jessika know?”

“Well, yeah, you’re going to be the only person that knows. I would never tell Jess something like this.”

“Then no, I’m not upset.”

Rey just rolls her eyes.

“I’ve told you, Peanut, there’s nothing wrong with being into your student. I have been encouraging this for months. I’m glad you finally acted on it. So, how big is his dick?”

Rey huffs, “I don’t know. We haven’t had sex yet.”

“It’s been a week and you two haven’t had sex yet? What have you done then?”

“Just make out really. There’s been some dry humping. He started to unbutton my top the other day, but stopped because he thought he was moving too fast for me.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Finn says with a burst of laughter, “Does he not realize how many sexual partners you’ve had? No one moves too fast for you.”

Rey shoots Finn a dirty look and throws the rest of her Danish at him. Finn picks it up from his lap and starts eating it.

“It is unusual to me, though. Like, that we haven’t had sex yet. I thought that’s all this was unresolved sexual tension that would, you know, get resolved rather quickly.”

“Maybe he actually likes you. Maybe he wants to take things slow with you.”

“That’s not what this is. That’s not what I want.”

“What if he wants to date you? What if he asks you to be his girlfriend?”

“That’s not going to happen. Not after Friday.”

“What happened Friday?”

“I’m not sure, really. I just don’t think he’s into me anymore. I think I blew it.”

Before Rey has time to elaborate, she hears a faint knock on her office door as it opens slightly. 

It’s Kylo.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?”

Rey blanks. Finn looks at her with a knowing smirk on his face.

“Come on in. I was just leaving. She’s all yours,” Finn says as he swings his messenger bag over his shoulder. 

Rey gives Finn another death glare as he exits but quickly reverts her gaze towards Kylo who is still standing outside her office, waiting to be invited in.

She gives him a little smile and motions her hand for him to come in. Kylo does so and shuts the door behind him. Rey looks back down at the stack of papers in front of her as she waits for Kylo to take a seat.

“Why did you cancel class this morning?”

Rey continues to look down, not feeling like looking at Kylo right now, “I wasn’t feeling well this morning. I didn’t think anyone would mind having a day off from class anyway.”

“How are you feeling now?”

“Better. I think I just needed some sleep.”

“I’m glad you feel better. I was hoping you would be in your office despite canceling class.”

“Well, I saw no point in skipping office hours if I was feeling better.” Rey looks up at Kylo now, the expression on his face is uneasy, “Is that why you stopped by? Just to see if I would be in my office?”

Kylo took a minute to respond like he was trying to work up the courage to speak.

“No. Well, yes, but that’s not the only reason.”

“Well, what’s the other reason then?” Rey knows he sounds disinterested. She doesn’t mean to, she just still feels unsure of where she and Kylo stand now.

“I wanted to talk to you about Friday night.”

Great. Here is comes.

“I wanted to apologize for—“

“No need,” Rey actually interrupts Kylo for once, “I get that what happened Friday probably left you feeling…uncertain about me. If you don’t want to pursue this anymore because of my lack of experience with certain things, I totally un—“

“No no no. What?” Kylo interrupts right back, “Why would you think I don’t want you anymore?”

Rey stands up from her desk and walks over to her filing cabinet, pretending to busy herself because really, she has no idea what to do during this awkward conversation.

“Because of what I just said. I haven’t experienced certain things.”

“Are you referring to not ever having an orgasm during sex?” Kylo says a little louder than intended and Rey gives him a look that could kill.

“Keep your voice down! Some of my colleagues are in their offices!” Rey whispers in the meanest of voices.

Kylo looks at her like a wounded dog and she instantly feels bad. 

Kylo stands and walks over to her, whispering as he does so, “Rey, I could care less if you haven’t had an orgasm during sex. That doesn’t make me want you any less.”

“Then why did you act so weird towards me after I told you?”

Kylo is standing in front of Rey now. So close that he has to look down at her. 

“That’s what I wanted to apologize for. I was afraid I made you feel bad or embarrassed for admitting that to me. I was just shocked and—“ he looks away, flustered, running his hand through his hair, “and turned on.”

“Turned on? You acting repulsed by me was you being aroused?”

“I was not repulsed. I didn’t mean to act that way. I was trying to restrain myself.”

Rey looks so utterly confused. “Restrain yourself? From what?”

Kylo’s looks back at her through hooded lashes, something in his eyes changing as he says in not a whisper, but a low growl, “You saying that you have to get yourself off after sex made me want to climb on top of you and show you how it feels to climax during sex. I wanted to please you in ways that none of your selfish hookups had ever been able to.”

Rey can’t breathe. Her skin is on fire and a wet spot is forming in her underwear.

Breathy, “Why didn’t you then?”

“Because Rey--” 

He’s getting frustrated. She can’t decipher if it’s towards her or himself. 

“I don’t want to rush this. I want to take my time with you.”

Oh no no no. What? Rey can’t even form a response. She doesn’t know what to say. 

“Look,” Kylo starts, leaning down to whisper in her ear, burying his nose in her hair. “I wanted this to be a little more…special…and not here, but,” he snakes his hand underneath Rey’s dress, brushing her bare legs as he goes, “I want to make you feel…good. I want you to know what this feels like.”

He can’t be suggesting what she thinks he’s suggesting. No way. 

His hand reaches the elastic band of her underwear and he freezes. His lips move from her ear to her neck, trailing feather-light kisses down the length.

“Tell me you don’t want this and I’ll stop. I won’t go further.” His breath is so hot on her skin.

Rey lets out a whimper. This is so…dirty. Her colleagues are in their offices, right now, grading papers or something, and she’s about to let her student touch her where he shouldn’t until she comes. This is the kind of stuff Rey has been waiting for to happen between her and Kylo, not all these sweet kisses, compliments, secret dates, and such.

Rey moves her hand down to where Kylo’s is resting. He must think she’s going to pull his hand away, but she moves it to rub over the wet spot that has been forming in her panties ever since he came to her office.

She whispers, looking down at Kylo even though he can’t see her, “I want this.”

He doesn’t waste any more time. In an instant, he moves his head back up her neck and crashes his lips into hers. His fingers move underneath her panties, cautious while delving into this once forbidden territory. 

His fingers skim over freshly shaven skin where hair normally would be. His middle finger brushes her clitoris and Rey moans into Kylo’s mouth, trying to pull his face closer than it already is. He applies a little bit of pressure as he continues his exploration down to her wet folds. Kylo moans now and breaks away from their kiss to lay his forehead against her shoulder. 

“Fuck, Rey,” he takes in a sharp breath through gritted teeth, “you’re so wet already.”

Rey is aching. She needs more. So much more.

Kylo’s fingers roam up and down Rey’s folds curiously, coating themselves in her wetness. His middle finger has found Rey’s entrance and without any prompting, he slowly slides it in her. They both let out a moan simultaneously – Rey from the sudden fullness she feels inside her and Kylo from the tight, slick heat that constricts around him. 

He thrusts his finger up into Rey a couple of times before he slips another finger in. He picks up his pace. He’s pushing deeper into Rey, biting that arc of her neck as his fingers curl into her-- hitting that spot he knows is every woman’s undoing. 

Rey is meeting his thrusts with her hips. She’s pulling Kylo’s hair furiously while she moans his name-- eyes rolling into the back of her head. She is so close to coming and Kylo must know because his mouth leaves her neck and crashes into her lips. He breaks the kiss and with his free hand, grabs her chin and holds it in place.

“Rey,” he growls against her mouth, “look at me. I want to see you.”

Rey’s eyes instantly shoot open as she feels his thumb move up to her clit as he continues to thrust in and out of her, massaging small circles into the bundle of nerves that lies there. His face is centimeters away from hers and he stares at her like he is going to devour her whole. She can feel his erection pressed hard into her side. 

Between the maddening way his fingers work in and over Rey, to the intense gaze that he is holding with her, she unravels. Her breath catches in her throat, choked on a moan. She stares at Kylo as she begins to tighten around his fingers. His mouth drops open—letting out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding at the feel of Rey’s orgasm. 

She feels weak. She feels dizzy. She feels amazing.

Rey and Kylo continue to look at each other until she is no longer pulsating. Both panting hard and sweating a little. Kylo reluctantly removes his fingers from Rey, making a slurping noise with them as he does so.

Rey tries to say something, anything.

“Kylo…that was—“

She stops as she watches Kylo lift the two fingers he just had inside her, covered in her juices, and put them in his mouth. She sees his tongue dart out slightly and he looks at her while he sucks his fingers clean.

Once he finishes, “That was what?”

He is going to be the death of her.


End file.
